“I contrast. It's cool.”

March 27, 2025 1:35 AM

Kylie Minogue announces “I am a typeface” in a 1997 song she made with producer Towa Tei. As this lyric suggests, the techno-pop track in question, “GBI (German Bold Italic)”, is delivered from the perspective of a font. Minogue’s breathy, almost robotic vocals bring the absurdist premise to life, reciting declarations of design compatibility over a minimalist reverb-drenched beat. from Whitney Mallett on When Kylie Minogue Was a Font [Dinamo]
posted by chavenet (15 comments total)

YouTube link for people who aren't on Spotify.
posted by rory at 2:06 AM on March 27 [3 favorites]

So when he uses that same The Art of Belly Dancing sample he used in Groove is in the Heart, is that trolling, or is it like he thought that 7 years later nobody would notice it, or just he thinks it's so good that nobody will care, or that's like his signature? (I've only heard Deee-Lite and Last Century Modern so I don't have that good a sense of how he thinks)
posted by aubilenon at 2:31 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]

Oh, nice! I really respect Kylie as a pop cultural icon - I didn't realise she'd done such experimental stuff too.
posted by Hermione Dies at 3:05 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]

a glyph set was made available as a data track on Tei’s Sound Museum CD and also downloadable from both Tei’s and Minogue’s official websites

1997 was pretty cool
posted by Hermione Dies at 3:12 AM on March 27 [4 favorites]

Typeface is the overall look and design of the characters. The font is the specific variation: the weight, the style (italic, extended, etc.), the size.

No criticism on anyone in particular. In fact, Kylie's announcement was spot-on. Pet peeve, carry on.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:40 AM on March 27 [1 favorite]

Going to see Kylie in ATL in a few weeks!
posted by djseafood at 6:31 AM on March 27 [4 favorites]

Some, uh, cultural appropriation going on in that YouTube video, yeah?
posted by Lemkin at 6:45 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]

Man, both the type sample and the track are such a satisfying slice of that late 90s haute-rave aesthetic.
posted by en forme de poire at 7:03 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]

(Though actually, this track wouldn’t be out of place on one of the Kompakt Total collections!)
posted by en forme de poire at 7:12 AM on March 27 [1 favorite]

That entire Towa Tei album is pretty good.
posted by mrphancy at 7:20 AM on March 27 [3 favorites]

Some, uh, cultural appropriation going on in that YouTube video, yeah?

Mallett noted it: "Minogue is dressed like a geisha roaming the streets of Tokyo (despite Tei’s involvement, the video no doubt reads today as cultural appropriation.)"
posted by rory at 7:26 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]

German Bold Italic could itself be seen as an example of cultural appropriation, this comment of Mallett's suggests:

In the comments section of fontsinsuse.com, the site’s editor Florian Hardwig compares German Bold Italic to Futura Extra Bold Italic. He points out, however, that while Futura is German, released by the Bauer Foundry in Frankfurt in 1927, Futura Extra Bold isn’t German at all: “It was added by Edwin W. Shaar for Intertype in the US in 1952, based on Paul Renner’s design. The oblique followed in 1955, made by Shaar together with Tommy Thompson.” Another user named Thiago, points out that, rather ironically, the glyph set for German Bold Italic doesn’t support the German language.
posted by rory at 7:30 AM on March 27 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of something I saw online recently: "Accents are just mouth fonts."
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:39 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]

I imagine some people were talking about then it but in 1997 cultural appropriation wasn't really on my radar at all. It also clearly wasn't on Björk's radar or Alice Deejay's radar either.
posted by aubilenon at 1:07 PM on March 28

The negative spaces in the typeface are narrow
Groove is in the glyph
posted by otherchaz at 5:03 PM on March 29